Odd PS2 controller fault

[fallenangle]

I've worn out plenty of PS/PSOne/PS2 Official DS/2 PS2 controllers in my time and more than once due to Tekken. Last night it happened again whilst playing Tekken 5 but this time I'm mystified because it was a relatively lightly used pad. There's was no indication anything was wrong beforehand during the two hour session only the last 30 mins of Tekken.

Usually you know pads are wearing out as the feel of whatever the buttons that are most worn changes. This is almost always the square or X caused by the rubberised contact pad underneath splitting or the electrical contact coating wearing away.

Not so this time - I was on the main menu screen and suddenly it started flicking through all the options uncontrollably. I thought the d-pad must have stuck on either the controller I was using or the second in the other port.

But no I eventually traced it down to the pad I was using, and discovered that both the triangle and circle buttons were completely dead. They felt OK they just didn't work, everything else d-pad, sticks, shoulder buttons work etc fine.

Both the PS2 ports work perfectly with the good controller and the bad one displays the same fault when used with my other PS2. So it must be the controller.

I've taken it apart and the contact pads are in very good shape with very little sign of wear. There are no obvious loose connections or anything broken and when I put it back together again it still has the same two dead buttons even though I'd turned the contact pad 180 degrees.

Any theories/suggestions about what can, apparently, suddenly kill two buttons on a PS2 controller?

[gunrock]

Any theories/suggestions about what can, apparently, suddenly kill two buttons on a PS2 controller?

Loose pubes?

[fallenangle]

I trim regularly and well away from anywhere I play my computer games

But if you're seriously suggesting a short circuit cause by dust or other unpleasant gunk - I did look for that. When I dismantled the pad under a magnifying glass I checked the triangle and circle button contacts and the printed circuit paths to and from each one. Nothing obvious wrong.

One thing of note is that this particular pad is the only PS2 one I have where the controller plug 8 pin isn't there. It is not used in either the PS/PSOne/PS2 standard controllers but I'm interested as to why some PS2s have it (presumably unwired) and some don't.

It's another example of the internal design differences between versions of the official pads something I've long known about. I was just wondering if in this case the version had/has known issues, perhaps with specific component failure.

[gordon]

As a (pointless) gesture of solidarity, I have exactly the same problem with one of my PS2 pads. Hardly used, bought new, now all it does is cycle through menu options on-screen. Buggered if I know what's wrong with it.

[fallenangle]

I think (just think) I've found the problem but unfortunately as I'd psychologically written off the pad and being a fiddle-paws I'd dismantled the plug to see how it was wired and whether that could have been anything to do with the problem.

Although a useful and interesting exercise in itself it is going to be a tricky job re-attaching the wires as all but the shielding one were held in place by what looks like machine crimping rather than soldering.

Back to the original problem with the buttons: ironically it could well have been that 'pube'.

On a whim I decided to look more closely (using a x8 lupe) at the circuit path from the two buttons. I followed the route on the semi-transparent flexible circuit mat the pad uses and noticed a thin blurry shadow at one point underneath the two parallel tracks. On closer inspection it did appear to be a 'hair' <5mm long crossing just those two tracks.

Whether it was something conductive I've got no idea because it was so small and stuck underneath the flexible circuit board I couldn't get at it easily. I just used a blower brush and it disappeared.

It'll take me some time to work out how to re-attach the plug to find out if that was indeed it. I'll be damned annoyed if it was and annoyed at myself for having given up on what might be a perfectly good pad.

[gordon]

Interesting stuff - I'll have a go at mine in the meantime.

[gunrock]

Back to the original problem with the buttons: ironically it could well have been that 'pube'.

Hahah, can't believe that. Whilst I was joking about the pubes, I did think that it'd be dust or gunk in there....